By now, you may have seen or at least heard that a TT Roadster will be featured in the upcoming Paramount Pictures film, Mission:Impossible 2. The film is directed by action master John Woo (Face/Off, Broken Arrow), and stars Tom Cruise as IMF agent Ethan Hunt. If you have seen the teaser trailer that is currently out, you can even catch a very brief look at the car. But how did it come to be featured in the film? Who's driving it? Does it get annihilated by that 911 that Tom Cruise is driving? We have most of the answers for you and some other interesting facts about the TT Roadster and other Audi's that will appear in the film.

AudiWorld's involvement in this story actually started back in July of 1999 when we first found out that the TT Roadster and an S8 were going to be featured in Mission:Impossible 2. We could have reported on it then, but at the time it was still a rumor that hadn't been confirmed. Since that time, we have been constantly digging for more information about Audi's involvement in this film. Our research eventually led us to Audi AG's global entertainment marketing agency, Propaganda Entertainment Marketing. Propaganda Entertainment specializes in placing their client's products into feature films. In Audi's case, they have been responsible for the cars that have been featured in the movies Ronin, Sliding Doors, In Dreams, Object Of My Affection, The Insider and of course Mission:Impossible 2, among others. For all you detail freaks, Propoganda Entertainment is well aware that the A4 featured in "The Insider" isn't historically accurate (the car is a post '98 model, even though the scenes it's in are set around 1995-96).

This is all you'll see of the TT Roadster in the teaser trailer, but it's enough to make you want more. Click on the photo to go to the Mission:Impossible website were you can download the trailer.

Now, how is the TT Roadster in the film? The TT Roadster is featured in a chase scene at the beginning of film and is driven by the character Naya (Thadie Newton). The other car, a Porsche 911 Cabriolet is driven by Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). The scene is set in Spain but was actually filmed in Australia and California. We're told that the TT performs on equal footing with the 911 (it's Hollywood after all) and the scene guarantees a lot of adrenaline and emotion. Unfortunatly, we were not told how the scene plays out, since it's confidential until the film is released. But we're assured that all Audi fans will be very impressed with the TT Roadster's performance.

The production for this film started almost 14 months ago (late '98) and at the time the TT Roadster was still a confidential car. Four TT Roadsters were used for this movie and they were the first hand built prototypes. All were cosmetically arranged to look perfectly identical. Only one of these cars was sent to Australia for establishing shots. It was then sent to California, along with the other three, for the stunt scenes that were filmed this past November. Along with these four hand built prototypes, Audi also supplied the film production with 4 additional TT Roadster bodies as well as technical assistance on the set.

Not only is the TT Roadster featured in Mission:Impossible 2, but two other Audi's also are featured, in much smaller roles. They are an S8 and an A6, both were used in filming while in Sydney, Australia.

We are told that Tom Cruise has been driving an S8 in Sydney on a permanent basis during the filming of Mission:Impossible 2. I had heard a rumor that the film production needed the car to shoot a scene and he told them to "get their own". Unfortunately, the story isn't true. A knowledgeable source did tell us, however, that Tom Cruise is a big fan of the car because "It handles like a Porsche, but he can take his family with him".

The A6 used in the film also has an interesting story. Since the scenes are set in Europe, but filmed in Australia, a left hand drive car was required - but of course none existed in Australia where all cars are right hand drive. The film production had to specially import a left hand drive car from the nearest location - New Caledonia. New Calendonia is a small island east of Australia and north of New Zealand.

Other than those few facts about the S8 and A6, we have no other details about how they are used in the film.

This is only the beginning of our coverage on this story. Currently, we are working on getting interviews with people directly involved with the cars during production as well as working on obtaining behind-the-scenes photos and videos of the cars on the set. With a little luck, we may even be able to photograph the TT Roadsters used in the film, since they are currently still in California.

As the 2000 Memorial Day weekend release date approaches for Mission:Impossible 2, stay tuned to AudiWorld for more details on Audi's exciting appearances in the film .